Philander Smith College razes liquor store in revitalizing push

BY L. LAMOR WILLIAMS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

March 12, 2009

   The message on Brick House Liquor’s sign after winter break 2008 was the final straw for Philander Smith College President Walter Kimbrough.
   “It said ‘Welcome back students,’” Kimbrough said Wednesday with an exasperated chuckle. “We’re a Methodist institution and the liquor store at our front gate was welcoming our students.”
   After seeing the message, Kimbrough set out to do what none of his predecessors could afford to do: Purchase and raze the liquor store that sat a stone’s throw from the college’s entrance across Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive.
   “I almost can’t believe it happened today,” Kimbrough said. “The past president told me she tried several times in her six years but always was quoted some astronomical price.”
   Kimbrough said the school paid $225,000 for the small cinder-block store and the property it sat on. He said no decision has been made on what will replace the building. The school also purchased two abandoned houses on Chester Street. A master plan started in the fall will determine how the properties will be used.
   “We’ll have to wait and see what the architects say, but I don’t care if it’s nothing more than green grass and a few benches,” Kimbrough said.
   Scott Wallace was listed as the owner of the store in Alcoholic Beverage Control Division documents. The store’s file in- cludes several violations, including selling to minors, clerks found with cocaine and marijuana, and clerks caught drinking on the job.
   Wallace said he was happy to sell the store.
   “We had security issues, were robbed a couple of times, things of that nature,” Wallace said. “I’m definitely not sentimentally attached to it. I’m glad to be out of there. They made me an offer, we talked about it and I just couldn’t turn it down. The store was more trouble than it was worth.”
   Philander Smith and Little Rock’s other colleges and universities are part of a new movement that seeks to use educational or medical institutions as anchors for community redevelopment efforts rather than businesses, said Ron Copeland, director of the University District Partnership, a part of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
   “Twenty or 30 years ago, redevelopment often focused on major corporations as anchors,” Copeland said. “What we’ve seen is private businesses often merge or move or fail. Philander Smith, UALR, Arkansas Baptist College, UAMS [University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences], these are major institutions that will be there for the next century. So, to the extent that they have a strong physical and economic presence in their areas, they will continue to be anchors well into the future.”
   Copeland said UALR has joined private developers and stakeholders — such as real estate agents, banks and businesses operating in the area — in forming the University District Development Corporation. That group, Copeland said, is addressing the issues of both commercial and residential investment in the area.
   Copeland said UALR is a prime player in those efforts and has committed to spending $100 million to develop new facilities and programs over the next 10 years. He said UALR’s role in commercial development involves helping attract and guide growth in the area and boosting the college’s impact on the community.
   “Our advisers tell us that commerce follows people,” Copeland said. “Our emphasis is creating a quality of life that will attract families and then business and services will follow them.”
   He said that while the organization is not quite four years old, some progress has been made.
   “We’re just getting started, but there are developments. Even in this down time we’re seeing some home sales in the area. We had a new restaurant move into the area, Patio Pizza, down on Fair Park and that’s a real vote of confidence in the area,” he said.
   “We have privately financed student housing on the south side of Asher Avenue where the old Coleman dairy used to be and we believe that’s because of the energy they see generated by the university campus,” Copeland said.
   Fitz Hill, president of Arkansas Baptist College, unveiled his school’s latest community redevelopment project in late February.
   Hill said the school spent about $215,000 to buy a run-down carwash at 1423 Wright Ave. and will use the facility as a learning laboratory for students studying business at the college.
   Over the past two years, the school has bought 12 houses in the surrounding neighborhood. Some were demolished, but the refurbished houses are being used for office space and student housing. One house has been leased by the professional associations representing black firefighters and black state troopers, Hill said.
   Jokingly, Kimbrough said he may be most happy that he can now call his father, a United Methodist minister, and tell him he managed to follow through on one of the preacher’s suggestions and got rid of the liquor store.
   He said he’s sure some of his students may be sad to see the store go.
   “We had a few from here get in trouble for buying underage and some from Central High School, too,” Kimbrough said. “We worked closely with [Alcoholic Beverage Control] to report violations. But I know that some of the students are happy to see it go.”
   Alex Brown, 19, is among the students who won’t miss the liquor store, he said. Brown, from Fresno, Calif., was among the handful of students remaining on campus Wednesday during spring break. He had a suggestion for what can fill the vacant lot.
   “A snack house or something open later than the cafeteria,” he said. “There’s a security booth right there, so it wouldn’t be a hazard to walk across the street. Sometimes people get hungry after the cafeteria closes at 6:30 p.m. and depending on the day, the food may not be good.”